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Brown University’sMolly Long and Layla Oesper have just won the Google Anita Borg Memorial Scholarship
for their excellence in computing and technology and their status as active
role models and leaders in the field. It’s accompanied by an award in the
expected amount of $10,000 and an invitation to the Annual Google Scholars’
Retreat. Layla and Molly (and fellow Brown University student, Eden Weizman)
join multiple previous BrownCS recipients of
the scholarship, including Tess Avitabile in 2010.

“The more I learn about Anita Borg,” Layla shares, “the more
I admire her and the work she did to help promote diversity in computing. I think
this is the third time I’ve applied for this scholarship, so I’m just
absolutely thrilled to have been chosen as a recipient this year.”

A key qualification for the scholarship is leadership in the
community and proven experience with inspiring other women to enter the field.
Perhaps Molly’s most notable success in this area is the creation of Brown’s
first annual hackathon, an event in which programmers and others collaborated
over the course of a weekend to create new software.

“Working with Molly was amazing,” comments Mackenzie Clark,
a co-founder of the event. “She is incredibly hard-working, responsible, and
dedicated to everything she does. I can’t think of anyone more deserving of
this award.” A few numbers support these accolades: 35% of hackathon attendees
identified as female, 75% had never been to a hackathon before, and 100% said
that they would return next year.

Professor Tom Doeppner agrees. “I'm delighted to hear about
Molly's award,” he says. “She's been extremely enthusiastic in pretty much
everything she does, acting as a role model not only for women, but for all CS
students. She's served as a UTA, she was the co-organizer of Hack@Brown, and
now she's the co-organizer of a CS senior yearbook.”

When asked to describe Layla’s achievements, Associate Professor
Amy Greenwald mentions
her work on the BrownCS Diversity Committee, her efforts to improve recruitment
of women, and both the design and implementation of key departmental diversity
initiatives. Citing Anita Borg’s ambition of creating male/female parity in the
field by 2020, Amy says, “If we had 1000 Layla’s all working toward this goal
in their spare time –like she does– I honestly believe we could do it!”

Associate Professor Ben
Raphael is equally enthusiastic: “I’m delighted that Layla's accomplishments are being
recognized by the Google Anita Borg Memorial Scholarship. Layla is a first-rate
researcher and teacher of computer science and computational biology. She
also works tirelessly to promote women in computer science, spearheading
diversity initiatives in the department and in our research group. These
exemplary qualities would make Anita Borg proud.”

The
scholarship will only enhance the already remarkable work of the two women. “This
award was so competitive and it brings so many opportunities with it,” Molly
concludes. “I’m ecstatic!” Her efforts and Layla’s will no doubt provide
opportunities for an entire generation of colleagues present and future.